The future of young immigrants shielded by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program was the subject of an intense legal debate on Thursday in the U.S. federal appellate system.
President Barack Obama implemented DACA in 2012 as an executive order, making it possible for eligible young people who came to the U.S. as children to work and study without facing deportation.
Lawyers representing immigrants protected by the executive order defended the program before a panel of three judges at the New Orleans based Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday.